Syria’s Suwayda: A new hub for the multibillion-dollar Captagon trade?

EXPLAINERAir strikes and border clashes reveal how the Druze-majority province has become a manufacturing and trafficking stronghold following the fall of the Assad regime.Jordanian fighter jets struck what they described as “factories and laboratories” for narcotics in southern Syria on Sunday, highlighting the emergence of Suwayda province as a key hub for the production of Captagon, a highly addictive amphetamine.While the multibillion-dollar Captagon industry was once synonymous with forces linked to the government of former President Bashar al-Assad, recent investigations and military operations, dubbed “Operation Jordanian Deterrence”, show the trade has found a new haven in the restive southern province.The developments point to an emerging axis between the new Syrian government and Jordan to dismantle the burgeoning drug infrastructure in Suwayda, a southern province that borders Jordan, to halt the spread of Captagon.Here is a breakdown of why the Druze-majority province has become a regional hub for the production and distribution of the drug.The shift to a Captagon hubThe recent air attacks specifically targeted sites associated with the “National Guard”, a militia loyal to Sheikh Hikmat al-Hijri, an influential figure within Syria’s Druze minority, an offshoot of Shia Islam. While the drug trade was historically linked to Iranian-aligned armed groups in neighbouring Deraa, recent reports indicate a major shift towards Suwayda, which has remained largely outside government control since the fall of al-Assad in December 2024.Clashes between the Syrian military and Druze militias, backed by Israel, in 2025, had further entrenched Suwayda’s isolation from the Syrian state, with the National Guard, the group in the province most strongly opposed to new President Ahmed al-Sharaa, becoming the dominant force there.